Concordia mom presses for crossing guard

Aug. 2, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 12:28 p.m.

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Jule McGuire, middle and her two daughters, Louisa, 6, left and Ella, 9, stand on the corner of Avenida Del Presidente and Avenida Calafia, the intersection where they say a crossing guard is necessary. JOSH FRANCIS, FOR THE REGISTER

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Jule McGuire and her two daughters ride their bikes across the intersrection as they would if it were a school day. JOSH FRANCIS, FOR THE REGISTER

Jule McGuire, middle and her two daughters, Louisa, 6, left and Ella, 9, stand on the corner of Avenida Del Presidente and Avenida Calafia, the intersection where they say a crossing guard is necessary.JOSH FRANCIS, FOR THE REGISTER

It was just another morning bike ride to school for San Clemente resident Jule McGuire, who was riding along with her two daughters, to Concordia Elementary when they came to the busy intersection of Avenida Calafia and Avenida Del Presidente. But routine almost turned tragic when a car almost hit McGuire's youngest daughter.

McGuire said a driver coming off the freeway didn't notice her daughter Louisa, 6, riding just ahead of her and she frantically tried to get his attention.

"I made eye contact with the driver, he was looking down the street and he looked at me and then he went. My daughter rode ahead of me and I yelled and I screamed and he didn't hear me, I had a jacket in my hand so I threw my jacket at that point and that got his attention to avoid my daughter," McGuire said.

This incident, as well as stories of other close calls at the intersection, located adjacent to I-5, prompted McGuire to circulate petitions in February asking the city to consider placing a crossing guard at the intersection before and after school.

Two petitions – one circulated online and the other among parents at the school – garnered more than 300 signatures. The city took notice, and in May they conducted a traffic study at the intersection. The study found that there were 36 pedestrians crossing the street between 2 and 3 p.m.

"We ride bikes to school every day and I see more and more people riding in the morning, and then I see more and more people driving, not necessarily to school but entering and exiting the freeway," McGuire said. "The more kids ride to school, it seems like there's a higher potential of something happening."

The intersection is located a half-mile from the school but McGuire said a lot of kids ride their bikes or walk across the intersection to get to school.

The call for a crossing guard at the intersection will now head to the city's Planning Commission on Aug. 21, when that panel will decide whether a guard is needed. If approved, the recommendation would head to the City Council for final adoption.

"The issue is if the city will fund a crossing guard," said San Clemente's Transportation Engineering Manager Tom Frank. "We are considering upgrading several of the crosswalks to continental or ladder-style marked crosswalks from the conventional crosswalk marking that currently exist."

And while the issue hasn't come before the commission or City Council, McGuire said the city has no excuse not to fund a crossing guard for the intersection.

In December, the council authorized a $101,000-per-year, three-year contract with All City Management Services Inc. to provide crossing guards at eight locations for 180 days during the year in the city. However, the contract did not provide for any guards near Concordia Elementary, the city's oldest school.

According to the City Council agenda report, the city's total budget for crossing guards is $106,000.

McGuire said she will try to get as many people to attend the meetings to send a message to the city.

And while a crossing guard would increase the safety at the intersection, McGuire says having a guard may also make more parents comfortable with their children riding bikes or walking to school.

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